Just as a reminder - Aidan and Farid have escaped from the Spirit Wolf and made it back to the yurt. Aidan heads straight for the showers; and when he returns, he fills Patrick in on their adventure. Then, he offers to help heal Farid's wounds by cooking up a potion.
*****
After Aidan leaves, Patrick goes over to Farid and inspects his wounds. He makes a face as he blows out a slow whistle. "Yeah... In this case, I have to agree with Aidan. Those cuts and scratches don't look so good."
"That's what I figured." Farid looks around for his duffle bag, but it's on the other side of the room. He starts to get up, but the more he moves, the more the scratches begin to sting. He plops back down onto the bed and points to it. "Would you mind handing me my bag?"
"Sure." Patrick swoops Farid's duffle bag up from the floor and brings it over to him.
Farid rummages around in it for a bit before pulling out a small metal thermos. He unscrews the top and just as he's about to take a sip, he sees Patrick looking at him with a deeply furrowed brow.
"You bring your own soup to missions?" Patrick asks inquisitively.
Farid lowers his thermos and loosely screws the cap back on. He assesses Patrick carefully before saying, "Do you really want to know?"
Patrick nods.
"It's blood," Farid admits. "Totally donated, by the way," he quickly adds. "It helps me heal." He cranes his neck and glances towards the opening of the tent, then turns back to Patrick. "I wanted to have some before Aidan gets back. I thought it might, I don't know, weird him out if he saw me drinking it." Farid tilts the thermos back and takes a big gulp, then wipes his lips with the back of his hand before screwing the lid back on and setting it on the floor next to his bed. "I figured you wouldn't be so queasy, being a bear-shifter and all."
Patrick stretches his arms out behind him, leaning back on the bed, and cracks a slow smile. "Well, most bears are omnivores, actually, which means the majority of my diet is plants and vegetables."
"Oh! So, you're a vegetarian?" Farid asks with a raised brow.
"Yep!" Patrick's smile widens. "But I've been known to enjoy a very fresh piece of meat on occasion--and by fresh, I mean 'fresh,' like bloody and raw."
Farid nods and laughs softly. Oddly, he'd just assumed that since Patrick was a Shifter, he definitely ate meat, at least cooked if not raw. So, hearing that he's a vegetarian really threw him for a loop. But he at least finds comfort knowing that, should they ever find themselves planning a celebratory dinner or whatever, they could happily enjoy a big bloody steak together.
Just then, Aidan comes in with a huge wad of flowers, leaves, and evergreen branches sticking out of the bucket he'd taken with him. He heads straight for the stove.
YOU ARE READING
The Otherworlders Academy - An Original Teen Fantasy
ActionTeenage Vampyrs, Enchanteds, and Shapeshifters join the Otherworlder Academy to train to fight off a demon horde and save the Otherworlder realm. Welcome to the rewrite of The Otherworlders! (This is v2 version, which explains the odd read to vote r...